This three-day instructor-led course is intended for individuals who are interested in expanding their knowledge base and technical skills with Microsoft Project. The course begins with a quick review of the basic concepts and leads students through all the functions they’ll need to plan and manage a small to medium-size project, including how to level resources and capture both cost and schedule progress.
It is meant to be a follow-on to our Microsoft Project Level 1 course and provides additional practice with the tool, a deeper exploration of the advanced techniques, and more time reviewing project management concepts important to the successful planning and delivery of projects on time and within budget.
Audience
This course is intended for novice and experienced project managers, managers, schedulers, and other project stakeholders who need to incorporate the discipline of project management with Microsoft Project 2019.
Objectives
Module 1: Introduction to Microsoft Project
This module provides an overview of how the features of Project relate to the job of the project manager. The module also teaches the student how to access different features by navigating through the ribbon.
Lessons
Describe how Project relates to the discipline of Project management.
Learn what the new features are in Project 2019.
Navigate to the primary views available using the Ribbon.
Choose Views that display task, resource, or assignment information.
Select table within views to change the information that is available to see and edit.
Relate the features of Project to the 5 steps for building a plan in Project.
Learn new accessibility features in Project
Lab 1: Introduction to Mastering Microsoft Project
Learn how to change views from a table to a chart.
Learn the different subcommands that are under each command groups.
Learn what functions are under the format tab.
Learn how to access the backstage.
Module 2: A Quick and Easy Overview of Managing with Project
This module explains how to create and use Microsoft Project 2019 through the life cycle of a project.
Lessons
Create a new project and prepare it for data entry.
Enter project tasks.
Sequence the tasks.
Define resources.
Estimate Task duration and assign resources.
Baseline the project.
Track project progress.
Lab 1: Creating a Basic Project with a template
Learn how to create a project plan from a template.
Learn how to turn off the timeline.
Learn how to change the project start date.
Learn how to add holidays to the company calendar.
Lab 2: Creating a Basic Project
Learn how to add resources and their cost.
Learn how to switch views.
Learn how to insert summary tasks.
Learn how to link tasks and summary tasks.
Module 3: Setting Up a Project
This module explains how to create a new project and establish the basic constraints that Microsoft Project will use for its calculations.
Lessons
Use multiple methods to create a new project from an Excel file and a SharePoint Tasks list.
Establish one or more calendars to constrain resource availability.
Configure Project to calculate the schedule from the Start Date forward, or from the Finish Date backward.
Lab 1: Setting Up a Project
Learn how to add Holidays to the company calendar.
Learn how to make a custom calendar.
Learn how to set the Project Start date.
Learn how to set constraints.
Module 4: Manually Schedule vs. Auto Schedule
This module explains how to manually schedule project tasks and how to leverage the auto schedule feature.
Lessons
Students practice switching tasks between Manually Schedule and Auto Schedule modes. By switching modes, students learn the impact made on the project schedule and the individual tasks.
Lab 1: Explore Task Modes
Describe which project functions are turned off for tasks using Manually Schedule mode.
Change the task mode from Manually Schedule to Auto Schedule and back.
Identify tasks that are in Manually Schedule mode by the task mode column and shape on the Gantt chart.
Describe situations that are particularly appropriate for using Manually Schedule.
Describe the limitations that a user must be aware of when using Manually Schedule mode.
Module 5: Creating a Work Breakdown Structure
This module explains how to create a useful work breakdown structure and enter it into Microsoft Project.
Lessons
Build and use summary and subordinate tasks.
Understand and use milestones.
Develop WBS Outlines.
Assign completion criteria.
Evaluate the WBS.
Understand and use WBS templates.
Lab 1: Manipulate a WBS
Learn how to create and manipulate WBS.
Learn how to utilize an Outline.
Learn how to create notes within tasks.
Lab 2: Supporting the Project Plan
Learn how to hyperlink project artifacts to your project plan.
Learn how to create reoccurring tasks.
Module 6: Identifying Task Relationships
This module explains the rules for establishing dependency links between tasks and how to use Project to display these dependencies.
Lessons
Understand the different types of task relationships.
Understand and use various methods to create relationships.
Determine and display task sequence.
Understand and use lag, lead, and delay.
Understand the new feature of Task Paths.
Lab 1: Display the sequence
Identify the different ways to create dependent relationships
Format a Network diagram.
Modifying dependency lines.
Modifying items to be shown on the critical path.
Module 7: Defining Resources within Project
This module explains how to enter resources and specific resource information in Microsoft Project and assign resources to specific tasks.
Lessons
Define resource types.
Define individual resources that will be used on the project.
Record the cost (s) of using each type of resource.
Record the limit of availability for each type of resource by establishing a resource calendar and defining the maximum units of that resource.
Lab 1: Resource Calendar and Availability
Add holidays to a standard calendar.
Applying different types of calendars to a project and analyzing the impact to the project schedule.
Applying vacation schedules to the calendar.
Replace resources based upon the resource’s calendar.
Module 8: Making Work Package Estimates
This module explains how Microsoft Project calculates task duration, task work (effort) and task resources. Students will be able to choose among three task types as they enter task estimates and they will know which task type is appropriate for the type of estimate they are making.
Lessons
Enter estimates for duration and costs for each task.
Distinguish between task types and describe when each is appropriate.
Describe the relationship between work, units, and duration.
Describe the way Effort Driven scheduling is affected by work, units, and duration.
Assign tasks to resources using the Team Planner view.
Lab 1: Work, Duration and Labor
Analyze the impact of duration, work, and labor.
Create material resources and assigning cost to the resource.
Understand how to leverage Project statistics
Apply a material resource to a task and examine the impact to project costs.
Module 9: Creating an Initial Schedule
This module explains how Project calculates a schedule based on task relationships and task duration. Students will understand the purpose of identifying critical path tasks and will be able to identify schedule float within the project.
Lessons
Calculate float and identify a project’s critical path.
Understand and identify task constraints.
Create milestones.
Use the Task Inspector to troubleshoot the initial schedule.
Lab 1: Calculating an Initial schedule
Reviewing changes that can have a positive or negative impact on the project plan.
Module 10: Create a Resource Leveled Schedule
This module explains how over-allocated resources create unrealistic schedules and shows methods for rescheduling in order to create a realistic schedule based on resource availability.
Lessons
Adjust a project schedule to account for limited people and other resources.
View the overall cost and schedule of a project.
Identify resources that have been overallocated for a project schedule.
Use multiple ways to adjust tasks and assignments to remove over allocation for any resource.
Lab 1: Resource Leveling
Evaluate the project’s resource plan using the resource views.
Adjust the schedule manually.
Adjust the schedule using the leveling feature.
Module 11: Managing the Project
This module explains how to use Microsoft Project to control a project. Students will save their plan to a baseline and see how entering actual task performance data enables them to view differences between planned and actual performance.
Lessons
Learn how to set a baseline.
Lean how to enter and track project performance data.
Learn how to apply different tracking methods.
Learn how to perform a variance analysis on a project.
Learn how to Reschedule Work
Learn how to inactivate tasks
Learn how to synch projects to SharePoint
Lab 1: The Baseline
Use Project Statics to see the changes in a project plan.
Use the variance tables to understand the changes in a project plan.
Understand the value of baselining.
Lab 2: Baselining & Tracking Performance
Understand the value of Baselining a project.
Understand how to Enter Actuals and measuring their impact.
Lab 3: Variance
Understand how variance is calculated with cost, finish and work.
Module 12: Formatting Output and Printing Reports
This module explains how participants will be able to control project output by creating and using Custom Fields, Sorting, Filtering, and Grouping of the project data.
Lessons
Print
Views
Formats
Sorting
Filtering
Grouping
Custom Fields
Reporting
Other File Formats
Lab 1: Use the Grouping Feature
Create new fields to group.
Create new group fields.
Create new views.
Lab 2: Create Visual Reports in Project 2019
Learn how to leverage Microsoft Project’s View Report features.
Learn how to create a Visual Report.
Module 13: Managing Multiple Projects
This module explains how to view many projects as parts of one very large project in order to gain new views on resource availability and task relationships among projects.
Lessons
Learn how to use common resources among multiple projects.
Learn how to link tasks between multiple projects.
Learn how to create a consolidated view of multiple projects.
Lab 1: Identifying Overallocated Resources from a Resource Pool and Consolidated File
Learn how to create a master project file.
Open Resource Pool.
Learn how to look for over-allocated resources.
Module 14: Advanced Topics
This module explains how to leverage some of the advanced features of Microsoft Project.
Lessons
Learn how to customize the Ribbon and the Quick Access Toolbar.
Learn how to customize WBS numbering.
Learn the concepts of Formulas and Graphical indicators.
Learn the purpose of the Global template and Organizer.
Learn how to record a Macro.
Lab 1: Recording a Macro in Microsoft Project
Learn how to create a macro that will automate a process.
While this course does provide a review of the basic features of Microsoft Project, individuals should have taken the first course in this series: Microsoft Project Level 1: Comprehensive Introduction or have some prior experience using Microsoft Project. There are no prerequisites for this course. However, it is helpful to have taken an introductory project management course, such as Versatile’s Principles of Project Management.
